BabyRider
Biker trash
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: My Dale Carnegie class....
Posts: 3,897
Re: Here is a hypotetical question?
The fact that she is a Republican is her ONLY redeeming quality. Would I vote for her? Not in this lifetime. Why? This country is NOT ready for a female president, and I doubt it ever will be.
__________________
Accountable
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: San Antonio, TX
Posts: 4,562
Re: Here is a hypotetical question?
You mean you're not ready.
I like what I've seen so far, especially the fact she's not a professional elected politician. I'd like to see her run.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Accountable
You mean you're not ready.
No that's NOT what I mean. What I mean is, in my opinion, this country is not ready for a female president. Just like I said.
"Just like I said."
Come on BR. What you MEAN and SAID are 2 different things.
"Would I vote for her?...Not in this lifetime......Why? "
"This country is NOT ready for a female president, and I doubt it ever will be."
Do "You mean you're not ready."?
Here is a hypotetical question?
Here is a hypotetical question?
"If America Was A Tree, The Left Would Root For The Termites...Greg Gutfeld."
Here is a hypotetical question?
I really like Bush but am cooling off rapidly...
Speaking of Condelessa , wouldn't it be refreshing to have a president who could ice skate and can play the piano..professionally....to entertain us for a change...T he Clinton Sax and the Truman piano don't even come close...this woman is brilliant.
Speaking of Condelessa , wouldn't it be refreshing to have a president who could ice skate and can play the piano..professionally....to entertain us for a change...T he Clinton Sax and the Truman piano don't even come close...this woman is brilliant.
Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words..:driving: .a thought home.
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Accountable
- Posts: 24818
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 8:33 am
Here is a hypotetical question?
randall wrote: :-6
Hello there, randall making hay again,
It may interest Bridgette and Accountable that on my very first visit to the USA I was a victim of segregation!
[...]
Such was my introduction and welcome to America!?
God Bless.
randall
Things have changed just a bit since then, Randall. Ships are much faster.
Hello there, randall making hay again,
It may interest Bridgette and Accountable that on my very first visit to the USA I was a victim of segregation!
[...]
Such was my introduction and welcome to America!?
God Bless.
randall
Things have changed just a bit since then, Randall. Ships are much faster.
Here is a hypotetical question?
Margaret Thatcher effectively emasculated the Party she led and it still has not recovered sufficiently to get back in to office. Not saying that either Rice or Clinton would do the same, just thought it worth a mention:sneaky:
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Accountable
- Posts: 24818
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 8:33 am
Here is a hypotetical question?
gmc wrote: Margaret Thatcher effectively emasculated the Party she led and it still has not recovered sufficiently to get back in to office. Not saying that either Rice or Clinton would do the same, just thought it wirth a mention:sneaky:
Hmmm, is that a challenge I smells? What party was she again? Maggie's reputation is in question! Any Thatcher patchers out there want to address this?
Hmmm, is that a challenge I smells? What party was she again? Maggie's reputation is in question! Any Thatcher patchers out there want to address this?
Here is a hypotetical question?
Accountable wrote: Hmmm, is that a challenge I smells? What party was she again? Maggie's reputation is in question! Any Thatcher patchers out there want to address this?
Golly Gee....I thought she was a remarkable person....there I go again being wrong....:guitarist
Golly Gee....I thought she was a remarkable person....there I go again being wrong....:guitarist
Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words..:driving: .a thought home.
Here is a hypotetical question?
:-6
randall here, again, pulling his breeches up,
First, Accountable, I have been in the USA every few years since 1953. Dallas two years running and have been in Tampa for the past three, have been this year and am going back next month - all though the generosity of my daughter so I do have more than a fair idea of how things change in the Good Ole US of A - how many times have you been in Europe.????
I was in a company, The Blue Funnel (alas now extinct - once it left the family and was run by a board of directors) that was famous for its fast ships even then. One group of them named the "Glen Line" were commandeered by Churchill especially to keep the Island of Malta going during their blockade and frequently had several warships escorting EACH ship - and the escorts were often left far behind by "Glen Line" ships.
During the whole route through the Mediterranean Sea to Malta they were in easy reach of the land based Axis (Germen's and Italians to you) aeroplanes who bombed, machine gunned and torpedoed them mercilessly. not forgetting the U-boats as well!
All the Glen Line ships survived that ordeal if I remember right.
As I was still sailing in engine rooms at 68 and only forced ashore by an American Company, "Tidewater Marine" to be precise - owned by George Bush senior and John Wayne - I know exactly how fast ships are today and, although you may not believe it, in the 1940's & 1960's, Blue Funnel ships could still out run almost ALL of them.
Once, on the SS "Patroclus" - they nearly all had Greek Mythological names - the GLen boats were named after Glens(?) in Wales like the "Denbishire" etc. Anyway we were proceeding to Singapore from Hong Kong and ran into some thick fog and the ship had to slow down from its usual 24 knots. The Master was very concerned about arriving late ( late ETA) The Chief Engineer came up to him and said, "If you're too worried about it I could could always open the bypass nozzles to the turbines and should give us at least 26 knots or even 28 knots." Beat that today on ninety nine per cent of the ships afloat.
Opening the bypass nozzles also increased the fuel consumption by about a 100 % but it could be done.!
As for Mrs Thatcher reign the less said the better. It is physically dangerous to mention her in some company and I think that the general consensus of most people of all classes - except her devoted admirers - is that we may not know the full damage she has done to the country for two or even three generations.
A Southern Baptist missionary once told me in the 1960's that it was still too early to assess the full damage of the American Civil War.
A friend of mine, an ex-prisoner of war with the Japanese, when I asked him why he didn't write his life history of that period, replied, "Oh its far, far too soon. It takes a long time to see the wider picture."
"But it's coming, its coming." he added wistfully.
As a Scot and an old age pensioner I feel that I can never forgive her for what she did to my country and its people. She introduced the "Poll Tax" to Scotland as an experiment two years before it was introduced to the rest of the country - that is why I hate the name United Kingdom - even my Norwegian Superintendent asked me about it. "How can you be one country and yet introduce a tax on only one section of it"???
I would like to know the answer to that myself.
I told my wife, "Wait till they introduce it in England and Trafalgar Square will be awash with demonstrations." And it was. We are only ten per cent of the country's population.
I grew up in a culture which was certainly hard working but none of us had ambitions to buy a house. All our preceding generations had lived in Council houses built and run by the councils. She put an end to that.
Literally she destroyed a unique culture in Scotland that can never be rebuilt.
We will have to create a new one. Our coalmines, shipyards, car factories, steelworks etc. were all the first to go - not only were they shut down but their very fabric was destroyed - where, unlike the depression of the 1930's, the gates were simply opened and people went back to work again on their same old equipment- she made certain that that could never happen. Now the EEC has taken away three quarters of our fishing boats as well?
Scots and Thatcher should never be mentioned in the same sentence.
I'll leave the Welsh and the Irish to have their own say.
It is said that she never once in her life travelled on any form of public transport and thought that Britain ended at The Watford Gap - the northern outskirts of London.
One British poet said, "I feel very sad for those people in the South of England who think that the world ends at the Thames." AND HE WAS ENGLISH.
Mrs Thatcher and Mr Gorbagov had one thing in common - all the rest of the world thought that they were heaven sent, wonderful leaders of their countries whilst their citizens just couldn't stand them!
Am a reel gasbag at times, am't ah?
God bless All,
randle.
randall here, again, pulling his breeches up,
First, Accountable, I have been in the USA every few years since 1953. Dallas two years running and have been in Tampa for the past three, have been this year and am going back next month - all though the generosity of my daughter so I do have more than a fair idea of how things change in the Good Ole US of A - how many times have you been in Europe.????
I was in a company, The Blue Funnel (alas now extinct - once it left the family and was run by a board of directors) that was famous for its fast ships even then. One group of them named the "Glen Line" were commandeered by Churchill especially to keep the Island of Malta going during their blockade and frequently had several warships escorting EACH ship - and the escorts were often left far behind by "Glen Line" ships.
During the whole route through the Mediterranean Sea to Malta they were in easy reach of the land based Axis (Germen's and Italians to you) aeroplanes who bombed, machine gunned and torpedoed them mercilessly. not forgetting the U-boats as well!
All the Glen Line ships survived that ordeal if I remember right.
As I was still sailing in engine rooms at 68 and only forced ashore by an American Company, "Tidewater Marine" to be precise - owned by George Bush senior and John Wayne - I know exactly how fast ships are today and, although you may not believe it, in the 1940's & 1960's, Blue Funnel ships could still out run almost ALL of them.
Once, on the SS "Patroclus" - they nearly all had Greek Mythological names - the GLen boats were named after Glens(?) in Wales like the "Denbishire" etc. Anyway we were proceeding to Singapore from Hong Kong and ran into some thick fog and the ship had to slow down from its usual 24 knots. The Master was very concerned about arriving late ( late ETA) The Chief Engineer came up to him and said, "If you're too worried about it I could could always open the bypass nozzles to the turbines and should give us at least 26 knots or even 28 knots." Beat that today on ninety nine per cent of the ships afloat.
Opening the bypass nozzles also increased the fuel consumption by about a 100 % but it could be done.!
As for Mrs Thatcher reign the less said the better. It is physically dangerous to mention her in some company and I think that the general consensus of most people of all classes - except her devoted admirers - is that we may not know the full damage she has done to the country for two or even three generations.
A Southern Baptist missionary once told me in the 1960's that it was still too early to assess the full damage of the American Civil War.
A friend of mine, an ex-prisoner of war with the Japanese, when I asked him why he didn't write his life history of that period, replied, "Oh its far, far too soon. It takes a long time to see the wider picture."
"But it's coming, its coming." he added wistfully.
As a Scot and an old age pensioner I feel that I can never forgive her for what she did to my country and its people. She introduced the "Poll Tax" to Scotland as an experiment two years before it was introduced to the rest of the country - that is why I hate the name United Kingdom - even my Norwegian Superintendent asked me about it. "How can you be one country and yet introduce a tax on only one section of it"???
I would like to know the answer to that myself.
I told my wife, "Wait till they introduce it in England and Trafalgar Square will be awash with demonstrations." And it was. We are only ten per cent of the country's population.
I grew up in a culture which was certainly hard working but none of us had ambitions to buy a house. All our preceding generations had lived in Council houses built and run by the councils. She put an end to that.
Literally she destroyed a unique culture in Scotland that can never be rebuilt.
We will have to create a new one. Our coalmines, shipyards, car factories, steelworks etc. were all the first to go - not only were they shut down but their very fabric was destroyed - where, unlike the depression of the 1930's, the gates were simply opened and people went back to work again on their same old equipment- she made certain that that could never happen. Now the EEC has taken away three quarters of our fishing boats as well?
Scots and Thatcher should never be mentioned in the same sentence.
I'll leave the Welsh and the Irish to have their own say.
It is said that she never once in her life travelled on any form of public transport and thought that Britain ended at The Watford Gap - the northern outskirts of London.
One British poet said, "I feel very sad for those people in the South of England who think that the world ends at the Thames." AND HE WAS ENGLISH.
Mrs Thatcher and Mr Gorbagov had one thing in common - all the rest of the world thought that they were heaven sent, wonderful leaders of their countries whilst their citizens just couldn't stand them!
Am a reel gasbag at times, am't ah?
God bless All,
randle.
-
Accountable
- Posts: 24818
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 8:33 am
Here is a hypotetical question?
randall wrote: :-6
randall here, again, pulling his breeches up,
First, Accountable, I have been in the USA every few years since 1953. Dallas two years running and have been in Tampa for the past three, have been this year and am going back next month - all though the generosity of my daughter so I do have more than a fair idea of how things change in the Good Ole US of A - how many times have you been in Europe.????[...]
[...]
The thread had meandered into the subject of bigotry. I inferred from your post that you thought bigotry of the calibre you mentioned still occurred in the US. My wisecrack was making the point that times have changed.
If my inference was incorrect, I apologize.
Since I have made no remark about bigotry in Europe, I don't see the relevance of your question.
randall here, again, pulling his breeches up,
First, Accountable, I have been in the USA every few years since 1953. Dallas two years running and have been in Tampa for the past three, have been this year and am going back next month - all though the generosity of my daughter so I do have more than a fair idea of how things change in the Good Ole US of A - how many times have you been in Europe.????[...]
[...]
The thread had meandered into the subject of bigotry. I inferred from your post that you thought bigotry of the calibre you mentioned still occurred in the US. My wisecrack was making the point that times have changed.
If my inference was incorrect, I apologize.
Since I have made no remark about bigotry in Europe, I don't see the relevance of your question.
Here is a hypotetical question?
Far, I am afraid I would have to agree with you on McCain over Rice. NOT because he is a man but because he has a lot of experience in the political world. I was disappointed when he was eliminated in the last election. OK how about a ticket in 2008 of McCain and Rice. McCain has stayed in the public eye every since the last election. Maybe he joined the presidential campaign too early in 2004 as I for one said McCain who? I started this thread not because I felt that Condallessa would be a canidate but I wanted to know how people felt about her. I feel it is about 50/50. Mainly because of Hillary.
Here is a hypotetical question?
Thanks Far for your kind words. Am glad to hear about your meeting McCain not only once but twice. What a thrilling expierence that must be to tell your children. Your children would probably be like me, McCain who?
Here is a hypotetical question?
This letter is to Accountable and anyone else I confused with my thesis on segregation. I am truly sorry I had a very confusing opinion and the reason was I was using the word segregation and really meant in all truthfullness to use integration. Sometimes what we mean and what we say don't come out the same. My husband read it this morning as I was confused why Acc. was calling me a hypocrite. I have never in all my life been called a hypocrite and do not take it lightly. His remark was honey,you used the wrong word in your description of the south. I knew that after he showed it to me but for some reason after rereading my first letter thst Acc. took objection to I just did not see it. Acc. I am not trying to gloss over the subject I'm trying to explain why my letters did not make since to you. I think it is time to put this baby to bed.
Oh, Acc. I am also a Scot. big time. That explains my bull-headness. You don't mess with the Scotch they not only get mad they also get even. Peace?
Oh, Acc. I am also a Scot. big time. That explains my bull-headness. You don't mess with the Scotch they not only get mad they also get even. Peace?
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Accountable
- Posts: 24818
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 8:33 am
Here is a hypotetical question?
First you called Randall for painting you with his broad brush:
Bridget wrote: [...] We in the midwest realize that the residents of the two coasts do not recognize we exist, that we are college graduates, work very hard and though we do not have the glamour of NYC we do have exposure to the nicer things of life that people in their own city do not have. Please do not judge us by the people you met as the general citizens of the USA.
Then you pulled out a brush of your own:
Bridget wrote: [...] When I look at Condazessa I see a woman not a color. The same with Colin Powell. True they are attractive, smart people. Unfortunately this does not hold true of the real south. If they had their way there would still be slavery. I too have visited extensively in several southern states. [...]
Being from the deep South, I have had to face some ugly truths about myself and the culture I come from. Bigotry exists. Prejudism exists. I will point it out when I see it. I beg of you to join me by exposing it when you find it. Stop seeing us and them within the USA. Within our family, we have to view individuals if we are ever to make progress against bigotry.
Bridget wrote: [...] We in the midwest realize that the residents of the two coasts do not recognize we exist, that we are college graduates, work very hard and though we do not have the glamour of NYC we do have exposure to the nicer things of life that people in their own city do not have. Please do not judge us by the people you met as the general citizens of the USA.
Then you pulled out a brush of your own:
Bridget wrote: [...] When I look at Condazessa I see a woman not a color. The same with Colin Powell. True they are attractive, smart people. Unfortunately this does not hold true of the real south. If they had their way there would still be slavery. I too have visited extensively in several southern states. [...]
Being from the deep South, I have had to face some ugly truths about myself and the culture I come from. Bigotry exists. Prejudism exists. I will point it out when I see it. I beg of you to join me by exposing it when you find it. Stop seeing us and them within the USA. Within our family, we have to view individuals if we are ever to make progress against bigotry.
Here is a hypotetical question?
Acountable Your last paragraph states exactly what I was trying to say all along only did a very botched up job of it. As to my comment about Condi and Colin when I look at those people and I could name others if I could just remember their names I do not see black or white skin. I see very intelligent people who are working very hard to make a difference in our country. I know of entertainers who I will not mention who have crossed the barrier of black and white. I still feel that in the deep south there are people who hate intregration. Unfortunately I personally met a man and his two sons who were very bigot from Florida. That was when I got my eyes opened as to what was going on. I do not feel the people up north not only northern farmers feel that blacks are not entitled to the same lifestyle as they have. It wasn't always that way even in the 70's I remember a small incident in St. Louis that involved my sister-in-law that again opened my eyes to bigotry. I grew up in a small town that did not have one black person in it. I did not know what it was all about till I was married and my husband who served four years in the service, all in southern states started telling me stories.
Here is a hypotetical question?
:-6
randall again, 'morning everyone,
"Accountable" I most sincerely congratulate you on your self control and forbearance but I am, like Bridget, a Scot and we have to stand up for ourselves throughout history or allowed ourselves to be dominated by more powerful neighbour so, to you, we may be, or seem to be, a bit tetchy.
My honest opinion was that you thought I was recalling things of fifty years ago as if they were as then, today.
I actually love the USA very much especially as one cowboy said to me standing on the South rim of the Grand Canyon admiring the view.
"You ain't from here-abouts."
I confirmed this and he ejaculated, "You're a Scat!"
When I enquired how he knew I wasn't from "hereabouts" before I had spoken to him he replied, "By your stetson; it ain't from hereabouts." And went on to tell how the style and shape of the "cowboys' hat varied greatly depending on where they lived from the cold weather of north Montana to the searing heat of the Arizona deserts.
No, I was not annoyed, I was proud even though to me his pronunciation of Scot was a little bit different from usual.
He enquired politely about where I had come from and where I was going and so on. Asked if I had any relatives in the US which I confirmed that I had three families of aunts and uncles and cousins in Detroit and San Pedro and an equal number in Canada. There were fifty nine members of my wife's family waiting on the pier at Vancouver to welcome us - all descended from one couple who had emigrated circa 1920
"Well I reckon," he continued. "You could say the French named almost all of the places for hundreds of miles around here but it was the Scats that settled them. The Irish came with the railways but were almost superseded by the Chinese at that job."
We had a very interesting conversation which must have lasted about an hour ignoring completely the fact that the guide and all of his party had moved on the the next viewpoint.
I was actually quite annoyed when my daughter left Dallas to return to Scotland because at the cattle pens in Fort Worth I met cowboys who knew more about the northeast of Scotland than I did and had visited it many times to buy breeding stock. They treated my family and I like long lost cousins
I had from childhood been an avid reader of the history of north America, at that time, knew more about the North American Indian Tribes and their chiefs names than I did about Scottish history - I still insist that Westminster had our school history books whitewashed to put England in a more favourable light - all that has changed now.
Two important things stick in my memory of my school days. One was when our school teacher said, "IF EVER" - "If" emphasised greatly, we should ever happen to meet a foreigner (going abroad was never dreamt of, we should always tell them that we were "English" as NO ONE KNEW WHERE SCOTLAND WAS! And she was a local girl who had been through university where - no doubt - she was brainwashed.
The second was when Westminster was considering extending the school leaving age from fourteen to fifteen a teacher asked us what we would like to do with the extra year.
I timidly ventured to say that I would like to learn to speak German.
She swung round on me almost vehemently,
"You, you randall," by this time spittle was coming from her mouth, "will never leave this town and will spent you life on a fishing boat just like your father and his father before him."
Little did she realise she was looking at a small redheaded little boy who would in his lifetime circumnavigate the globe more times than he could remember and visit every continent on earth apart from Australasia.
I was destined to work for half a dozen German companies.
In Buchan we speak DORIC but only at home - in school (OR in Detroit, San Pedro or Vancouver!), if you spoke it you got six of the best - a leather strap which every teacher had in her desk (all the male teachers were at the war) You had to hold your hand straight out while she built up to speed with each blow. You were scared to tell your parents you had got the strap from the teacher because they would then strap you for having got the strap from the teacher - because the teacher was never wrong - CHANGED DAYS?????
All our servicemen who were captured - the entire 51st Highland Division were captured at St Valery en Caux fighting the rearguard action that enable the troops to get onto the boats from the beaches at Dunkirk.
Well, every singled one of them, could speak almost perfect German within a month of being captured because of the incredible similarity of Doric and German.
This stood me in good stead when working on German ships although I never achieved that standard - it was useful because my German shipmates were never too sure of how much I understood what they were saying either to each other or about me.
As Doc Holliday reputedly died saying,
"Life's funny."
God bless all,
randall
randall again, 'morning everyone,
"Accountable" I most sincerely congratulate you on your self control and forbearance but I am, like Bridget, a Scot and we have to stand up for ourselves throughout history or allowed ourselves to be dominated by more powerful neighbour so, to you, we may be, or seem to be, a bit tetchy.
My honest opinion was that you thought I was recalling things of fifty years ago as if they were as then, today.
I actually love the USA very much especially as one cowboy said to me standing on the South rim of the Grand Canyon admiring the view.
"You ain't from here-abouts."
I confirmed this and he ejaculated, "You're a Scat!"
When I enquired how he knew I wasn't from "hereabouts" before I had spoken to him he replied, "By your stetson; it ain't from hereabouts." And went on to tell how the style and shape of the "cowboys' hat varied greatly depending on where they lived from the cold weather of north Montana to the searing heat of the Arizona deserts.
No, I was not annoyed, I was proud even though to me his pronunciation of Scot was a little bit different from usual.
He enquired politely about where I had come from and where I was going and so on. Asked if I had any relatives in the US which I confirmed that I had three families of aunts and uncles and cousins in Detroit and San Pedro and an equal number in Canada. There were fifty nine members of my wife's family waiting on the pier at Vancouver to welcome us - all descended from one couple who had emigrated circa 1920
"Well I reckon," he continued. "You could say the French named almost all of the places for hundreds of miles around here but it was the Scats that settled them. The Irish came with the railways but were almost superseded by the Chinese at that job."
We had a very interesting conversation which must have lasted about an hour ignoring completely the fact that the guide and all of his party had moved on the the next viewpoint.
I was actually quite annoyed when my daughter left Dallas to return to Scotland because at the cattle pens in Fort Worth I met cowboys who knew more about the northeast of Scotland than I did and had visited it many times to buy breeding stock. They treated my family and I like long lost cousins
I had from childhood been an avid reader of the history of north America, at that time, knew more about the North American Indian Tribes and their chiefs names than I did about Scottish history - I still insist that Westminster had our school history books whitewashed to put England in a more favourable light - all that has changed now.
Two important things stick in my memory of my school days. One was when our school teacher said, "IF EVER" - "If" emphasised greatly, we should ever happen to meet a foreigner (going abroad was never dreamt of, we should always tell them that we were "English" as NO ONE KNEW WHERE SCOTLAND WAS! And she was a local girl who had been through university where - no doubt - she was brainwashed.
The second was when Westminster was considering extending the school leaving age from fourteen to fifteen a teacher asked us what we would like to do with the extra year.
I timidly ventured to say that I would like to learn to speak German.
She swung round on me almost vehemently,
"You, you randall," by this time spittle was coming from her mouth, "will never leave this town and will spent you life on a fishing boat just like your father and his father before him."
Little did she realise she was looking at a small redheaded little boy who would in his lifetime circumnavigate the globe more times than he could remember and visit every continent on earth apart from Australasia.
I was destined to work for half a dozen German companies.
In Buchan we speak DORIC but only at home - in school (OR in Detroit, San Pedro or Vancouver!), if you spoke it you got six of the best - a leather strap which every teacher had in her desk (all the male teachers were at the war) You had to hold your hand straight out while she built up to speed with each blow. You were scared to tell your parents you had got the strap from the teacher because they would then strap you for having got the strap from the teacher - because the teacher was never wrong - CHANGED DAYS?????
All our servicemen who were captured - the entire 51st Highland Division were captured at St Valery en Caux fighting the rearguard action that enable the troops to get onto the boats from the beaches at Dunkirk.
Well, every singled one of them, could speak almost perfect German within a month of being captured because of the incredible similarity of Doric and German.
This stood me in good stead when working on German ships although I never achieved that standard - it was useful because my German shipmates were never too sure of how much I understood what they were saying either to each other or about me.
As Doc Holliday reputedly died saying,
"Life's funny."
God bless all,
randall
-
Accountable
- Posts: 24818
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 8:33 am
Here is a hypotetical question?
Thanks, Randall. You illustrate that we are kindred everywhere. I'm kind of surprised you consider yourself the "techy" one; I thought it was me.
I myself only recently discovered my surname is Scottish (or just Scot?) and not Irish. I think many Americans lump Scotland and Ireland together just as we call anyone from Asia Chinese.
It's for just this broad kinship that I react so strongly to racial bigotry. It's one thing to celebrate our cultural differences among friends with good-natured teasing (there's a better British idiom, but I can't think of it). It's a completely different issue to use differences as weapons to berate or opress.
Bigotry is a very touchy issue for me; some say I over-react. I've examined it and me, and I have decided it is important enough to justify my reaction. I suppose it is my cause, my Holy Grail. We have enough problems, especially in the US, without creating arbitrary groups to berate. I sincerely believe most of our problems would disappear if we could stop bigotry.
I myself only recently discovered my surname is Scottish (or just Scot?) and not Irish. I think many Americans lump Scotland and Ireland together just as we call anyone from Asia Chinese.
It's for just this broad kinship that I react so strongly to racial bigotry. It's one thing to celebrate our cultural differences among friends with good-natured teasing (there's a better British idiom, but I can't think of it). It's a completely different issue to use differences as weapons to berate or opress. Bigotry is a very touchy issue for me; some say I over-react. I've examined it and me, and I have decided it is important enough to justify my reaction. I suppose it is my cause, my Holy Grail. We have enough problems, especially in the US, without creating arbitrary groups to berate. I sincerely believe most of our problems would disappear if we could stop bigotry.